Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that talks between U.S. and Ukrainian officials will take place in Saudi Arabia next week. Zelensky expressed hope that it would be "an important meeting."
Although Zelensky will be in the Gulf country, he will not attend the talks. He stated that Ukraine is working towards achieving a permanent peace as soon as possible.
"Next week, on Monday, my visit to Saudi Arabia is planned to meet with the crown prince," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "After that, my team will remain in Saudi Arabia to work with our American partners. Ukraine is most interested in peace," he added.
US team wants to discuss the outline of peace
US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said the US team wanted to discuss the "outline" of peace to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Earlier Thursday, Witkoff said he was in discussions with Ukraine for a peace agreement framework to end hostilities with Russia and that a meeting was planned next week with the Ukrainians in Saudi Arabia.
"We're now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians in Riyadh, or even potentially Jeddah," Witkoff told reporters.
"The idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well," he said.
Zelensky and Trump had a heated debate at the White House last Friday.At that time Trump said that Zelensky was not ready to end the fighting.
At the same time, the US has stopped military aid to Ukraine and stopped sharing intelligence.
The Ukrainian President has expressed regret over the incident and is trying to improve relations with the US, which is the country's largest military supplier .
On Thursday, Witkoff said that Trump had received a letter from Zelensky which included "apologies" and "gratitude".
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and now Russia occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory.
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